Canby native’s discernment journey leads her to Presentation Sisters of Blessed Virgin Mary

It was in 1997 when Canby, MN native Vicky Larson (pictured) contacted the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Aberdeen, SD that her religious discernment journey began. On August 5, 1999, she entered the novitiate stage of religious life and on June 10, 2006 professed her final vows.

Sister Vicky is the daughter of Ronald and Mary Larson of Canby, MN and a high school graduate of Lac qui Parle Valley High School, Madison, MN. She received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in nursing from South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD and is presently a nurse educator at Presentation College in Aberdeen, SD.

Throughout her college years and beyond, Sister Vicky explained that “The Holy Spirit kept bringing the idea of being a sister to mind. Eventually I knew that I could not ever get married or stay single without wondering if I was called to be a Presentation Sister.” She saw only one way to truly find out: “to stick my toe in the water and start the initial discernment process.”

While the profession of perpetual vows is a big step in her life, Sister Vicky found that this was the easiest decision of all. “At each new step along the discernment journey, I have spent time in deep prayer and thought a great deal about whether to continue on to the next stage of discernment. Each new stage of formation has been like coming to a fork in the road and I have always chosen to continue because it has been my heart’s desire. God has nurtured my spiritual growth into the person Christ is calling me to be,” she said.